Report: Samsung to Launch AI Digital Assistant on Galaxy S8

Following the announcement that Samsung would be acquiring Viv, an AI platform, it’s now being reported that the company will incorporate a digital assistant into next year’s Galaxy S8. Powered by none other than Viv, it’s expected that this assistant will be much like Apple’s Siri and Google’s Assistant.

According to a Samsung executive who spoke in reference to the upcoming platform, the assistant will launch with seamless third-party service integration. As an example, this is what you see with Google Assistant and its support of Nest thermostats or Hue lights from Philips. On top of that, you can perform the usual stuff, like performing searches for information or setting calendar events.

Viv, which was founded after its creators sold their previous work to Apple in the form of Siri, offers a natural language understanding, very similar to what you see with Google Assistant. Additionally, Viv features machine learning capabilities, meaning it should only get smarter as time goes on.

While it would be excellent to see Google open up Assistant to all of the Android OEMs for utilization, that’s just not the way things are happening at this time. So, as some smartphones get smarter with the help of digital assistants, other companies without these types of resources won’t be able to offer the same type of experience.